Are Joe Arpaio and His MCSO's Fiscally Wasteful and Inhumane Antics Finally Catching Up With Him?

In any other place, the publicity Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has received recently would be seen as, well, horrendous:

• His supporters launched one of the sleaziest TV political ads ever against his political opponent in the November 4 election, Dan Saban, resulting in a backlash that drove the ad off the air (see Sarah Fenske's column this week).

• Accreditation for the Maricopa County jail, which Arpaio's lawyers had used as an example of why critics who complained about bad conditions in the jail were wrong, was revoked.

Deputies in full combat regalia at the Mesa public library.

• A surveillance video surfaced of a violent beating death that took place in the jail, revealing tragic flaws in the security and control of the facility.

• The sheriff raided municipal buildings in Mesa in what appeared to be nothing more than a blatant political maneuver against Arpaio's perceived enemy, Mesa Police Chief George Gascón.

As a public safety effort, the pre-dawn October 16 incursion into Mesa City Hall and its library was laughable — it netted just three undocumented workers. A couple of former county Superior Court judges criticized Arpaio's action in the East Valley Tribune, with former chief judge of the court Colin Campbell calling the raid "bizarre" and "extraordinary."

Whether these October surprises have influenced anyone to vote for Saban over Arpaio, though, is another story. Except for the groups that have been protesting Arpaio regularly at the county Board of Supervisors meetings and in front of the Wells Fargo building downtown, where the sheriff's headquarters are on the 19th floor, it's difficult to tell how the public is reacting to the outrage.

The local offices of the Democratic Party did not return a call before press time. Dan Saban can't seem to find the resources or the right sound bites to capitalize on Arpaio's multiple misadventures. The conservative-leaning Goldwater Institute didn't want to weigh in on what the events mean, if anything, for Arpaio's fourth bid for re-election.

Pollster Earl de Berge of the Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center says he believes the criticism of Arpaio hasn't been aimed well enough to make a crucial difference.

While Arpaio pounds away on immigration, he may be getting in trouble with voters for not enforcing other areas of the law. Trouble is, news outlets haven't fully explored the possibility that he's letting more serious crimes go as he targets illegal aliens, de Berge says. A five-day series in July in the Tribune, which dinged Arpaio's office for late responses to emergency calls, came close, but the paper doesn't have widespread influence, de Berge says.

Still, "the general mantra that he can't be defeated, I think, is baloney these days," the pollster says.

De Berge notes that voters aren't expected to be kind to incumbents in the upcoming election. Independents and swing-vote Republicans concerned that Arpaio misuses his resources by sending "60 troopers in the middle of the night to arrest three janitors" just might put Saban over the edge, he says.

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith was visibly angry during a news conference last Thursday about the raid on Mesa government offices.

"The citizens of Mesa, Arizona . . . This is their City Hall," Smith said. "[It] was, in my belief, violated by another government agency. I don't believe that's proper protocol, and I also believe that [it] crosses the line as to what proper law enforcement should do."

Smith seemed ready to pick up the flag and keep running on Friday. But by that afternoon, he had canceled a news conference and put out a press release on the issue before taking off early for the Mogollon Rim. In the release, Smith stated he had offered to meet with Arpaio, and Arpaio had accepted.

"During our meeting," Smith wrote, "I intend to discuss how the City of Mesa and the Sheriff's Office can work to resolve differences that have arisen from the challenges of overlapping jurisdictional responsibilities within the city."

Yet here's how Arpaio characterized the meeting, expected to take place October 24, to a TV news reporter: "[Smith's] coming to my office, and, boy, he's going to get an earful."

You'd think, with all the outrage shown by the mayor last Thursday, it would be the other way around.

And surely, the Mesa raid was, at best, a waste of public resources to support Arpaio's re-election campaign and stick it to Chief Gascón, who's made numerous critical statements of Arpaio in the press.

At worst, the raid put the lives of citizens at risk, as Smith said in his October 16 news conference, because Mesa authorities weren't warned of the enforcement action.

Earlier that day, well before dawn, dozens of deputies outfitted for combat operations gathered at Pioneer Park in downtown Mesa. Reports show that when a Mesa police officer came upon the group and asked what was going on, he was told it was a police dog training event. The deputies soon stormed City Hall and the library, looking for illegal immigrants who worked for Management Cleaning Controls, which the Sheriff's Office was investigating for violating the state's employer-sanctions law.

Mesa officials say the deputies arrested just two people in the library and one in the library's parking lot, all three of whom turned out to be undocumented workers. Deputies say they also arrested 13 other suspects at their Valley homes.

It�s an online effort to get as many people as possible to vote for me for Maricopa County Sheriff this Tuesday. With your help, we have a great chance of pulling off an upset victory and bringing accountability and justice to the Maricopa County Sheriff�s Office.

But we need every vote we can get.

Here are two �links� of our campaign advertisements for you to listen to and view.

( PHOENIX) October 31, 2008: In striking contradiction to an earlier ASU/Cronkite poll of �likely voters,� a new poll of �newly registered voters� shows that Dan Saban holds a commanding lead in the race for Maricopa County Sheriff among this group. The ASU poll did not include any of the 487,108 voters who have registered since the November 2004 Sheriff�s race. These newly registered voters make up 28 percent of Maricopa County�s voting population.

In a telephone survey conducted October 24-30, 54 percent of newly registered voters preferred Dan Saban over the Republican incumbent. 31.7 percent said they would vote for Arpaio, and 14.3 percent were still undecided. The telephone survey of 454 �newly registered voters,� conducted for the Saban for Sheriff campaign, asked respondents: �If the election for Maricopa County Sheriff were held today, for whom would you vote: Dan Saban, Joe Arpaio, or are you undecided?�

This is in almost direct contradiction to the ASU poll because the methodologies used were different. The ASU poll did not include people who used a cellphone as their primary telephone. According to Bruce Merrill of the ASU/Cronkite poll, that group accounts for between 20-30 percent of telephone users. This group also tends to be younger than land-line users.

Both polls surveyed Republicans, Democrats and Independents based on their percentage of the voting population, but the ratios are different from when �likely� voters voted in 2004. Then the percentage of Republicans was higher in the voting population. The ratios among �newly registered� voters are completely different, with Democrats making up 29.7 percent, Republicans 29.4 percent, �Others� 40 percent, and Greens and Libertarians combining for .007 percent. The poll�s margin of error is +/-4.6 percent.

The differences between these two polls underline the importance of looking at the numbers in new ways. For example, a poll of �likely voter� respondents taken prior to the Saban/Arpaio primary in 2004 showed Saban was favored by only 18 percent, yet he finished with 44 percent of the vote.

Bill Perry, manager of the Saban for Sheriff campaign, said �We believe the poll conducted by ASU missed a lot of voters who will likely have a big say in this year�s election. More than 188,000 people registered this year alone and they deserve to have their voices heard in advance of Election Day. What we�re hearing is they want a new sheriff and that sheriff is Dan Saban.�

Republic' supports Dan Saban for sheriff905 commentsOct. 5, 2008 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic Considering the built-in cruelty that so often is a part of politics, declaring any campaign the "worst ever" is dicey territory. There are lots of candidates for the title.

That said, the effort to destroy - not simply beat, mind you, but utterly destroy - the Democratic candidate for Maricopa County sheriff this election will stand among the most demeaning political efforts we have witnessed.

For their salacious attacks on Dan Saban, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the character assassins dwelling at Arizona Republican headquarters should be ashamed of themselves, if it were possible. The Arizona Republic firmly believes that, if elected, Dan Saban would make an effective and professional county sheriff.

Retaining the self-serving, Grand Guignol circus surrounding "America's Toughest Sheriff," on the other hand, would gain the county neither competence nor professionalism.

It would gain voters a continuation of the parade of pratfalling sycophants surrounding Sheriff Joe Arpaio, to say nothing of the tens of millions of dollars lost in lawsuits, and the completely unnecessary alienation of entire communities of Arizonans.

Let us repeat: The unnecessary alienation of thousands of perfectly legal Arizona citizens.

By retaining Arpaio, voters will likewise retain his retinue of double-dipping lieutenants whose sole justification for their bloated salaries appears to be their ability to dig up dirt on their boss' political foes. They'll get to keep the venal, petty "media spokesmen," who take exquisite delight in denying press releases to small newspapers that dare to displease them.

They'll get another four years of headline-grasping assaults on American liberty, such as Arpaio's infamous 2006 SWAT team invasion of the home of Maricopa County Schools Superintendent Sandra Dowling - an attack that ultimately netted a misdemeanor charge against Dowling for hiring her own daughter to a minimum-wage job. Oh, and a $1.75 million Dowling lawsuit against Arpaio and the county. Another lawsuit to throw on the pile.

In a perfect world, Arizona voters would come to see the costly trade-off of electing their law enforcers and would choose to hold their county board of supervisors accountable for selecting a true pro. Is the mystique of this perpetually angry and intolerant man really that important to the prosecution of crime? Other communities find and hire sheriffs and police chiefs whose primary duty is law enforcement, not self promotion.

Regardless, voters have before them an opportunity to "hire" a tough law enforcer who has no interest in rolling like a tank over his political opponents and other citizens. Voters can hire Dan Saban on Election Day.

The former police chief of Buckeye, Saban has more than three decades of law-enforcement experience in Arizona, most of it with the Mesa Police Department, which he departed as a commander, functionally in charge of hundreds of department personnel.

Saban last ran against Arpaio in 2004 - a Republican primary despoiled by many of the same rancid and twisted personal accusations recently resurrected by Arpaio's functionaries in the Republican Party. The strength of character it takes to march, yet again, through that gauntlet of personal vilification says volumes about Saban. He's standing up to the sheriff's toadies.

Despite his foibles, Joe Arpaio enjoys great popularity. He has money and notoriety. In many respects, he is bigger than life.

All that given, it takes a remarkable smallness of character to allow the county's Republican Party to attack Saban the way Arpaio let GOP Chairman Randy Pullen, et al, attack the sheriff's opponent last week. And make no mistake about it: Arpaio could have, and should have, condemned their slime and forced them to stop. He did not.

Dan Saban has proved his worth as a cop on the job. Now, Maricopa County voters have the opportunity to elect a lawman, not a showman.

They should use it. The Republic strongly supports Dan Saban for Maricopa County Sheriff.

The only fact that we should be focusing on about our "wonderful sheriff" (looking out for his face on as much media as possible - he doesn't give a damn about the citizens of Maricopa County) is that his joke of a law enforcement "career" should have been over long ago.

Why are all details left out? Can we not discuss all of the wonderful things that Sheriff Joe has done for our county? Have you ever asked yourself why it is he continues to be re-elected time and time again? He is obviously taking care of business and I have no doubt in my mind that our wonderful Sheriff Joe will continue to look over the citizens of Maricopa County for some time to come. How about we stop the bias reporting and focus more facts concerning our Sheriffs law enforcement career.

Saban HAS been all over the problems with Arpaio. The problem is the majority of the local media always talk to Arpaio last, or are too lazy to do any research into the lies that come out of Arpaio's office. de Berge hasn't heard anything from Saban not because of anything Saban HASN'T done; he hasn't heard anything because the local press (print, radio and TV) have not adequately reported Saban's positions. You can't blame Saban for not trying, because he has.

If you think about it, Saban's gotten more free media than Tim Nelson, Harry Mitchell, Bob Lord, and all of the legislative candidates combined. Saban has only Joe Arpaio's gross incompetence to thank for that. That the reporters don't focus on Saban's points is the reporter's and their editor's fault for buying into Arpaio's spin.

Phoenix New Times = Phoenix High Times. What lousy, biased reporting. Going after illegal aliens is awesome. Those that love lying, cheating and stealing (PNT) hate the fact that law & order is being brought about by a great sheriff. He is the standard all sheriffs aspire to. Keep distorting the facts while the informed citizens keep electing a great sheriff. Oh that we could clone him.

i have to agree about the Dems and Saban not playing the attack role with the negative issues that have surfaced lately. Why? its not like your lying like the GOP and arpaio did, your just bringing this to the publics attention and give us a reason as to why it wont happen in your administration..do that, and you will win arpaio supporters that are on the fence..and trust me, theres plenty...lets just hope saban capitalizes while there is still time..i just think hes not much of a politician and all cop, which i think is the best trait to have in a sheriff...